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Friday, November 21, 2014

I haven't done one of these posts since April and a lot has happened since then, so Happy Friday and here you go!

Making: Nothing at the moment, although S won't be home all day tomorrow which gives me ample time to get something started. I want to make some Christmas stockings and start on my work wardrobe that I talked about here.

Anticipating: To be honest, not a lot. I've been so busy lately that I am happy for things to quieten down for a few weeks, although this weekend starts the many Christmas get togethers that are coming up between now and Christmas.

Reading:The man and the sea by Ernest Hemmingway and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I'm not loving Gone Girl. Perhaps because I googled the ending and know what is coming up.

Listening: Nothing new recently. I did have to get a bunch of songs ranging from the 50's to now for work and that playlist has been fun to listen to.

Wearing: Shorts, singlets, sandals. Comfortable summer wear!

Looking forward to: Hopefully some overseas travel on the cards for next year. I am desperate to get to the US and if it all works out, we'll be there for my Birthday in May. We're thinking LA (Santa Monica), Vegas, New York, DC (to see Steve's colleagues). Any recs for where to go in those places?

Watching: The walking dead. I forgot about that show for a good six months or so. Lots of catching up to do!

Thinking about: Trick question! I never stop thinking about things. Right now, it's what I should wear to work given it's going to be 40 degrees today. Loving: I just bought my favourite makeup in the right colour (I bought a shade lighter last week) and the difference it makes it huge. When you're on to a good thing, stick to it!

Thursday, November 20, 2014

S came home bearing some pretty new lippies
from the states. I got a MAC prep and prim lip primer which claims to keep
lipstick on your lips longer. Perhaps I am not using it properly, but I have
not noticed a difference. Lipstick doesn’t tend to last too long on my lips and
I usually re-apply a few times a day. What are your tips for long lasting
lipstick?

I got: MAC Plumful and MAC Pink Pearl Pop

MAC
Plumful

This is my new favourite every day
lipstick. It is a natural colour and provides a pop of colour to freshen up
your look. I usually wear this to work as it is not too bright and over the top
for my workplace. No-one wears lipstick here it seems, so I can’t wear bright
red lippie without standing out a lot. As the name suggests, it is a plum coloured
lipstick.

MAC
Pink Pearl Pop

Another beautiful lipstick to add to the
collection. Pink Pearl Pop is a brighter pink that I will probably only wear
when going out. It is a light and bright pink and a very sweet colour. I’ve
noticed the staying power on this one is not great and I need to apply a fair
bit for the colour to show well enough.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

This post is from last week but I forgot to post itI’m a pretty terrible singer, but karaoke in front of the TV is one of my favourite things to do with friends. My Sister in law and I decided to sing (shout) some tunes on Friday night while the boys were away. After Bali, my drink of choice has been Mojitos, so Mojitos we drank. Friday nights hardly ever go to plan for me. We’d planned to go to the pub for dinner and after a drink I said ‘can’t be bothered, but I’m still hungry’, to which Sister in law replied ‘Let’s order take out’ (um, der) and that was settled. Delicious wood fired pizza and mojitos.

I should also mention here that the whole night the boys were Facebook messaging us from Vegas. Vegas is five hours in front of Sydney, but one day behind (do you follow)? So while we we’re eating dinner, bashing out karaoke tunes etc., they were dancing away and drinking at the Bellagio in Vegas. Slightly more exciting than our efforts, but is there actually anything better than a drink and pizza on a Friday night?

The answer to that is yes, I wish I was in Vegas with them.

Anyway, we finished the night off by watching The fault in our stars and went to bed early because we’re nanna’s on Friday nights.

Saturday night we had a girls night planned and hotfooted up to Newtown for some two for one cocktails. Kuleto’s (my favourite cocktail bar) have changed their rule so if you want two for one, you have to order with a friend. Um, that defeats the purpose. And anyway, I’m still going to drink just as many cocktails, but probably quicker because I need to allow more time for lining up. There were a few bartenders that would just give you two drinks, but the one that kept serving me kept rolling his eyes and huffing and puffing when I insisted my friend was outside and I’d be giving her the second drink (she was and I did).

Customer service in Australia is just so great, hey!

After Kuleto’s we went over to Newtown Hotel which I was surprised to find had an amazing cider garden. They also have amazing fries and I do love good fries. We were out until about 4am and got some delicious hot chips from the kebab shop on our way home. I wasn’t drinking until 4am before you all assume I’m a drunk, we had a lot of friends out and were dancing and chatting and time slipped away.

Sunday morning Steve got home from the longest week away ever and we spent the rest of the day hanging out and talking about LA and Vegas. Listening to his stories made me want to book a US trip so I put together a plan for an LA, Vegas, New York and DC trip for my Birthday next year.

Who knows if we’ll actually go, but I have my bets on yes and I am excited!

A few weeks back I got dressed up and
headed to the city for my friend D’s hens party. D’s sister and bridesmaids organised
the night and it was amazing. Full of activities and full of fun. I didn’t have
a hens night, so I was living vicariously through D.

The party started in the hotel room the
other girls had gotten at The Grace hotel. Wine and nibbles = a winning
combination and a great start to the evening.

The first activity planned was a cocktail
making class at La Cita, Darling Harbour. I’d just gotten back from Bali and
was desperately missing my daily cocktail, so this class was a goodie. We
learnt how to make a cosmopolitan and a mojito (my fav!). Cocktails actually
aren’t that hard to make, especially mojitos. The cocktail making (and
drinking) was a great starter to lead us in to the next class of the evening –
a latin dance class.

Look, I am unco-ordinated. I can’t dance
and I had an injured knee, so I couldn’t even do everything the guy told us to.
By this time of the night, everyone had a few drinks under their belts, so
everyone was right in to it and it was great fun. The group before us took it
really seriously which didn’t look like fun. Take yourselves less seriously and
everyone is laughing. I can’t follow dancing directions to save myself so I was
definitely laughing at myself!

Dancing was followed up with dinner in the
restaurant part of La Cita. The food far exceeded my expectations. I didn’t get
pics, but I had a steak, mash and veg for my main and the steak was cooked to
perfection. This coming from someone who rarely eats steak! I shared a jug of
delicious sangria with another of the guests at dinner, because you just can’t
go past sangria!

We finished the night at the Retro
nightclub. I haven’t been there since I was about 18, but it was good to go
back especially since I used to only go with the hen. They played all the old
favourite songs.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

I was going through my old email account today and deleting emails when I came across my wedding speech. We didn't have speeches at the party, but when most people had left and it was a close group of friends left, we did a bit of a 'speech circle'. I was the only one with a prepared speech and our friend, T tried to get the whole restaurant to listen. Lucky he wasn't successful. How embarrassing!

"Not many brides give a speech on their wedding day….or engagement party day as the case may be, but since we are obviously not ones for tradition, here goes.

Firstly, I want to ask for the forgiveness of those who we lied to and who thought they were coming to an engagement party. Well, the original plan was for this to be an engagement party until one day I decided I didn’t want to plan a wedding and so here you are today – at our surprise reception. Steve and I always intended to have a small, intimate wedding and we thought by doing it this way you would all still be able to celebrate with us, rather than just see photos on facebook of a Vegas wedding.

The lies I have told should have seen my nose as big as Pinocchio’s, but who am I kidding – it’s almost there anyway!

Secondly, while you couldn’t all be there to see me marry my new husband this morning, I am so honoured and grateful to have you all here to celebrate with us this afternoon. It means a lot to us that you could travel her and give us your time today. Some of you have been on our journey from the very beginning and some of you have hopped on along the way, but whatever your part is in our story, we’re happy to have you here and thank you for helping us to celebrate.

Now let’s take it back 7 years to where it all began. Being the shy 17 year old I was, after we had met through friends and Steve had shown an interest, I came up with as many excuses as possible to avoid going on a date. There were two reasons for this: 1 – I was scared of telling my Mum a boy was interested in me and 2 – I was too shy to go on a date.

Persistent as he was, Steve never gave up and eventually I agreed to see a movie with him where I proceeded to tell him my life story over a hot chocolate. If you know me well (and most of you do), you will know that I go red in just about any circumstance, with the first date being no exception. Sitting there with my red chest and red face I was busy explaining that my seat belt had given me a rash while Steve was probably nodding his head thinking whattt?

In those early days of our relationship, I was drawn to Steve’s charming nature and good looks as well as his ambition, drive and determination. 7 years later and I can confirm he has only become more determined, more charming, more ambitious and more good looking and these qualities bring a lot to the foundations that our marriage will be built upon.

One thing most people know well about Steve is that he never gives up. Whether it be study, work, a project he is working on, or beating Tim in tennis - he will work hard to see it through. Steve has adopted the same values in our relationship and through our ups and downs, he has never given up.

As I stand here today, I am proud to call you my Husband, Steve. You have encouraged me when I thought I was not good enough, you have been there when I have been down, you have been there when I have been happy. You have stood up for me, you have trusted me and you have never ever put me down.

Steve, I can’t wait for us to begin life as a married couple, but also to continue living life as we have. My hope is for our marriage to be full of love, adventure, encouragement, support, teamwork and the occasional matching outfit (not on purpose of course).

I hope you have all recovered from the surprise we gave you and I would love if you could raise your glass to toast my new husband, Steve".

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

1. We have well and truly reached the
tail end of the year and we’re slowly sliding in to Christmas. Between my
family and Steve’s family, we don’t really do gifts and if we do, it’s usually
a Kris Kringle type set up. I think all my brothers are old enough to
participate now, so it should be good. As we have the previous few years, Steve
and I will go out for a nice Christmas dinner for just the two of us. I love
the little tradition that we have created!

2. Steve just went to the US and came back
bearing many gifts. I am so spoilt! My favourite was one that I had not asked
for and didn’t know I needed it until I got it – Jo Malone shower gel. Is there
any scent better than a Jo Malone scent? I don’t think so. He bought me the
Wood, Sage and Sea Salt and I just smell fabulous.

3.I am in the process of assisting to organise my bestie's Hens weekend away. I think some activities would be fun apart from the wine tour etc. that we are booking. Any ideas or tips for some fun activities, whether it be at the accommodation or out, would be great! We don't want garish sashes or anything like that for her, but I'd still like a subtle way to show she is the hens. Maybe a badge?

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

I’ve been looking for new work clothes and this season, I haven’t come across much that suits what I want/need. I’m a pretty simple person and I rarely stray from the classics, so it’s pretty easy to turn my nose up at clothes that have cut outs/are too short/too long etc.

I am looking for a wardrobe that will cover all bases, won’t be too boring and that will suit my corporate job. With those criterion in mind, the garments can’t be too short, too out there, low cut etc. I am thinking to start the base project, I will need to source patterns for the following:

Monday, November 3, 2014

Steve went away to the US on Friday, so Ted and I drove down to the South Coast, NSW for a little getaway. My Pop lives down there and we stayed with him in his house near the beach. I thought it would be a 4 hour drive, but 6 hours later and we made it. It took me 2.5 hours to get out of Sydney to Wollongong. Ridiculous!

We started Saturday with a walk along the beach and lakes that surround the area. It was a stunning day and the beaches really put it on.

We stopped for coffee and Ted had a little rest under the table.

When the sun was going down, we went for a little drive to get some photos. The weather had gone from about 30 during the day to about 15 and it was so windy. Nice anyway..as you can tell by the photos.

Bit chilly around the ole' ears.

So lovely! It was such a nice weekend away and we really needed it. My Pop is so accommodating, he even washed my car while I napped!